Why, we might ask ourselves, is a bartender seeing Mme. Charnier off to work? The answer is that horse-cab drivers – in common with workers in other turn-of-the-century occupations – had no qualms about consuming alcohol before, during and after business hours.

Exposure to cold and rain during brutally long shifts made drink a psychological if not a medicinal necessity. In this as in other professional requirements of cab driving the femmes cocher proved equal to the challenge.